


Amidst A Field of Flowers

by Kaoru_chibimaster



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Birthday, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Kid Gladio, Mentioned Iris Amicitia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 17:24:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14193939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoru_chibimaster/pseuds/Kaoru_chibimaster
Summary: A little family sat in a glade and spoke softly to one another.





	Amidst A Field of Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Since we still don’t know Lady Amicitia’s name, I made one up for her. Figured Gladio could spend his birthday getting in some quality time with his mama.

Gladiolus flowers…

Sword lilies…

It’s said that they’re called such because of the shape of their petals. Sharp and elegant, like a sword.

Gladiolus saw a pink, fragile plant swaying lazily in the wind, no swords or elegance in sight. In all honesty, the shapes of their petals didn’t really matter. They were flowers: in the end, they existed to look pretty and smell nice.

What kind of shield would that make Gladio?

“What’s this?”

The sound of an amused voice met Gladio’s ears, just in time for him to look up as a slender finger touched the wrinkle between his eyebrows. A chuckle then, as his face scrunched up in annoyance. He didn’t dare push it away though.

“About ready to make a fuss, aren’t you?” the voice continued in that infuriatingly, endearingly jovial tone. “You certainly look like it.”

This, the same voice that relayed smooth and docile tones into pleasant tunes at bedtime and read words from a page in calm and soothing whispers, was laced with an almost mocking brightness that wavered in and out of laughter and frequent intervals. Gladio felt rather insulted, quite frankly.

“Don’t make fun of me, Mom!” he whined.

His mother raised a hand to her chest, making a very convincing attempt at looking affronted. Too bad her son already knew she was faking. “Me? Make fun of my dear baby boy? _Never_!”

Gladio’s bushy little eyebrows furrowed in irritation, coaxing peals of laughter out of the smiling woman.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?” she managed to giggle out.

“Why’d you name me after a flower?” he pouted. Her own eyebrows rose in surprise at a question she hadn’t expected. She hadn’t even known that he knew what his name meant. Partially meant, that was.

“Why’d my mother name me after a flower? They’re pretty, no?” she responded. Gladio examined her silently, taking in her slender frame and her soft hands, her feathery auburn hair and her glowing golden skin. She always smelled of flowers, and her smile was pretty like one. And she was a lady. Of course she would be named something ladylike. ‘Ixia’ fit her: a pretty name for a pretty woman. It didn’t fit a boy who would one day guard the king.

“I don’t want to be pretty,” he promptly decided. This time his mother let out a rather unladylike snort.

“You were when you were born. All rosy cheeks and brown curls.”

“I’m not pretty now.”

His mother sighed, sitting up from where she’d been laying in the glade of flowers. An open field in the forested park that they’d found themselves in after deciding the family needed to take a break and relax outside somewhere. Gladio’s father must not have gotten the memo, standing a few feet away and arguing with someone on his phone. He’d been doing so for the past half hour, and both Ixia and Gladio had been doing their best to ignore it for just as long. Crown business, most likely. Nothing came between that, not even family. It never failed to reverse Ixia’s trademark smile, especially when her son started talking about it in such idealized ways.

“I think you are.” Gladio’s frown matched hers now. “And don’t give me that look. I’m allowed to think that because I’m your mother. You’re an adorable little boy who will grow into a very handsome young man one day. One day faaar off. Feel better?”

“No. You never answered my question.”

This time only one eyebrow was raised. The ‘trouble’ look, as he liked to call it. The one that told him he was being rude and needed to turn that attitude around. He was quick to do so.

“Sorry. Can you tell me why you named me after a flower?”

Legs crossed, Gladio’s mother leaned forward, her chin in her hands, as she too took her son in. He mirrored her position, careful not to avert his gaze as she looked him over. Shields didn’t shy away from anyone’s eyes, not even their mother’s. At least, he thought so…

“Do you know your name actually means small sword in Old Lucian?” she asked him after a moment of silent contemplation.

“Somehow I feel like that’s worse.”

Another snort. “You ought to stop listening to your father’s conversations. Getting a bit too big for your britches, kiddo.” A sigh as she straightened up, her joints cracking a bit with the movement, a sign that she’d been too still for too long. “It made sense, at the time. A little sword to follow in his father’s footsteps. A little sword to guard the king. Personally, I thought the fact that it was the name of a flower was what made it such a nice name…”

“I thought you didn’t like swords,” Gladio chimed in, curiosity peaked.

“I don’t. Your father named you.”

Ah. This made sense to Gladio then, that his father would name him something dignified, like a word that meant something like sword. He felt marginally better about his name then.

“I still got a little bit of what I wanted though,” his mother continued, her smile slowly but surely returning. “It’s still a pretty name, in my opinion. A beautiful name for my beautiful son. And don’t you worry, your sister will have just as beautiful a name.”

Not that Gladio was really all that worried about that, but he wouldn’t bring his mother’s mood down by mentioning it. He knew how excited his parents were about having another baby. Even Gladio himself was excited to meet her. Whenever she came around.

“I think a flower name would fit better for a little sister,” Gladio decided. He wasn’t going to refute or agree to his mother’s statement, but he figured turning the subject to something else entirely would end the conversation then and there.

“Fitting. Ixia, Gladiolus… Hmm.” Those amber brown eyes left Gladio then, trailing over the flowers in the glade. The swayed in the breeze peacefully, silently as if with bated breath. As if they wanted to hear what name she would give her daughter as well. Beyond the pink of the gladiolus flowers, a small patch of purple caught Ixia’s attention. The light in her expression was a revelation bestowed then.

“Iris. That’ll be her name.” Once again her gaze returned to her son. “What say you?”

“I like it. It’s pretty.” For a baby sister. Which was perfect. Baby sisters were supposed to have pretty names. Not shields.

“I’ll keep it tabbed then.” A glance at Clarus, his face red with ire. His teeth gritted, threats slipping between them and into the receiver.

“I’m sure your father will like it too.”

“I thought you’d name her when she was born,” Gladio said, returning her attention to him. Her previous amused smile was back in full force.

“Not all parents do that. Besides, her arrival is months off. Right now I like Iris, and so that shall be her name.”

A firm finality. Iris it was, then. Gladio let his sight travel down to his mother’s rounded belly. Iris was somewhere in there, still growing, occasionally kicking, mostly sleeping. Gladio saw his parents talk to her a lot. He’d tried it once. It made him feel silly. He couldn’t wait for her to come out so he could talk to her for real. He’d take her back to this very same glade and tell her the origins of her name. He’d…decidedly leave out the origins of his own.

“I’m surprised,” she started up again, “that you’re so focused on her today. I thought you’d be a little more excited about your own big day.”

“It’s just a birthday, Mom.” It was a little exciting, Gladio could admit. Ten more years and he could join the crownsguard. His father talked to him about it all the time, about how proud he would be when Gladio made it in. How much of an honor it was to be a part of the crownsguard. How Gladio would make such an amazing shield to Prince Noctis. Gladio couldn’t wait to do exactly that. What else mattered during his birthday? Other kids got all excited over toys and gifts, but Gladio got toys and gifts all the time. Why would he be excited to have more?

“Well it’s a little more of a big deal than ‘just a birthday’! It’s the day you were brought into this world. The day you lit up my life! That beautiful spring day…” His mother huffed indignantly. “I think that’s worth being at least a little excited over.”

“I thought it was raining when I was born.” Jared had told him so. It was an offhand comment, but it stuck with Gladio for some reason. Nevertheless, his mother pulled a mock-pout on him, reaching out to pull him into her grasp and ruffle his hair playfully. He only struggled minimally, not actually all that eager to leave his mother’s arms.

“Rain can be beautiful too! Look, don’t argue with me, kiddo! Mother knows best!”

“Uh huh…” He wasn’t going to argue that either. Clarus had made it a point to let Gladio know that even when Ixia was wrong, she was right. Mom was _always_ right. _Always_.

“And anyway, raining or not, that was the brightest day of my life. And continued to be for eight years. So even if you’re not excited for your birthday, your dad and I are more than excited for the three of us. Oh! Four of us, actually.”

Gladio doubted Iris even knew what was going on, but he went with it.

“I don’t want a party though.” Gladio hated all those fancy parties the noble kids got. Half the council’s children got these big celebrations that literally only existed so the grown-ups could all talk to each other about boring stuff. The prince’s birthdays were even worse. A huge ball filled with adults milling about, holding conversations that put Gladio to sleep, and all but climbing over each other to talk to the king. Clarus wouldn’t leave His Majesty’s side during these events, so Gladio never got to spend that time with him. The prince himself never liked his own birthdays either, from what Gladio had seen. It would explain why he was barely present at his own party. Gladio didn’t want anything like that. He didn’t’ want to fight a bunch of adults for his father’s attention. He didn’t want a party filled with old people and their old people conversations. He liked what he had right there and then, sitting in a park with his parents (and technically his baby sister) and enjoying family time. Mostly. His father’s voice had risen during the argument and he’d drifted farther away in an attempt not to disturb his wife and son.

“Alright then. No party. I understand how you feel anyway, those parties are so dull,” Ixia replied, turning Gladio around in her grip so that he was leaning back against her, her arms circled around him in a warm hug.

“I reserve the right to buy you a cake though.”

“Deal.”

She started laughing again, this time Gladio joining her. If there was one thing they could absolutely agree on, it was that cake was a birthday staple.

“I’ll have it custom made. With little gladiolus leaves around the edges.”

Or maybe not.

“Mooom,” he complained, sending her into another fit of laughter. Even Clarus looked up from his phone call, raising an eyebrow at the pair. His finger swiped across the screen, hanging up on whomever he had been arguing with, before the phone was placed in his pocket as he made his way back over to them.

“I’m going to assume she’s teasing you again?” he asked Gladio once he reached them. He was answered immediately with a few quick nods.

“She wants to put flowers on my cake!”

An entertained glance was directed at Ixia. “Ixia, dear, really?”

Another glance back at Gladio. “Gladiolus flowers, I assume?”

Ixia only laughed harder.

Clarus made an odd face, as if he was trying his hardest to contain a smile. “It’s Gladio’s birthday; he can choose what he’d like on his cake. When your birthday rolls back around, we’ll put gladiolus flowers on your cake.”

“And iris flowers,” Gladio offered. Clarus raised an eyebrow at that. Gladio turned slightly, placing a small hand on his mother’s stomach.

“Iris.”

“Ah,” Clarus said, realizing what his son meant. “We have a name for her then?”

“We do,” Ixia smiled.

“Wonderful. Gladiolus and iris flowers then. It’ll be the most colorful cake Lucis has ever seen.”

Like a field of flowers.

It wasn’t ideal, in Gladio’s mind, being considered a flower in his mother’s eyes. But as his father sat down with them, completing their little circle in the middle of the glade, he let the thought slip from his mind. He’d still be a strong shield like his dad, he was sure. He wasn’t going to let his name stop that.


End file.
